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President Basescu at the European Commission, 22 April 2010

Sunday, 6 January 2008

India's exploitation of the womb

‘Because what’s going on in India – where surrogacy is estimated now to be a $445-million-a-year business — feels like a step toward the kind of insane dehumanization that filled the dystopic fantasies of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” and Margaret Atwood’s “Handmaid’s Tale.” (One “medical tourism” website, PlanetHospital.com, refers to the Indian surrogate mother as a mere “host.”) Images of pregnant women lying in rows, or sitting lined up, belly after belly, for medical exams look like industrial outsourcing pushed to a nightmarish extreme.’

Judith Warner's excellent critical analysis brought back my Romanian experience. In my book you can find examples of these practices too.

For example, how I visited a Bucharest maternity clinic end 2000 where abandoned babies were kept for intercountry adoption in a backroom, while just next door a luxurious fertility clinic was offering IFV for Romanian nationals. I could only wonder why those Romanians could not adopt the babies next door.

In January 2005 that same fertility clinic made international headlines as a 66-year- old woman had given birth after IVF treatment, the oldest mother in the world.

But the most striking was Romania’s trade in human egg cells which came out in April 2005. A US/Israeli company was harvesting the eggs of students for a financial ‘compensation’. These eggs could be ordered via the Internet, and shipped to New York or London for fertilisation. The European Parliament had adopted a resolution to call for the European Commission’s full investigation of this.

In ‘Romania-For Export Only’ I mentioned this as a side issue and did not enter into much detail.

I don’t think the Romanian branch of Global Art still exists. After all, Romania is now a member of the European Union, where such practices are not allowed. So, they relocated outside the EU, to Ukraine, as can be read in this article The misery behind the baby trade.

Years ago I saw a TV programme about the Italian fertility doctor Severino Antinori in which he announced his intention to use Indian women to breed children for Italian couples, with eggs and gamete from Italy.

It is not unlikely that now or in future eggs harvested by companies like Global Art will be bred by Indian women, or women in other countries with weak regulation.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

A friend of mine told me she once replied to an ad asking for a "health y young woman to keep company to a pregnant woman". She went and met a 40 year old woman, who was supposed to be the mother of the pregnant woman. She told me that this woman was asking weird questions; for example, how you have any disease. She said it was weird but she needed the money. At the end, that lady asked her whether she has any friend that would be interested in donating an egg to an infertile couple she knows- of course the couple would pay some money. My friend was shocked and threaten to go to the police. She talked to her parents and gave the contact number of that woman; but they couldn't contact her. I don't know what happened next but this doesn't look like something that happened only once in history. I'm sure many students could be approached like that and offered money. Shocking yet real.

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Romania - For Export Only

the untold story of the Romanian ' orphans' gives an insider’s look into the adoption kitchen, where the most used ingredients are political pressure and emotional blackmail. A nexus of adoption agencies, adoptive parents and politicians are using their powers to ensure that intercountry adoptions continue. Often they are successful. However, in Romania they were not. The Romanian government, with support of the European Union, stood firm and took the decision to no longer export their children. A decision the adoption industry continues to challenge now for five years.

The reader is taken along on an eight-year-travel, from 1999 to end 2006, and will be shown the story of the Romanian ‘orphans’ from a different light, where global politics and private interests compete with the rights of the child.

copyright De Telegraaf

Victor Bostinaru, Member of the European Parliament, said:

Roelie Post dares to describe a taboo-issue at a level that can compare with the works of Noreena Hertz and the movie Constant Gardener. Unfortunately such reporting in general does not receive a lot of media attention, because of
its political sensitivity. If you read the book, you find out why. A nest of scorpions of big (business) interests interwoven with political and social
actors, and the large demand for adoptable children, creates indeed a market functioning that until now was systematically denied. As a result the discussion remained in the margins of society.

Cathy Wagner said:

Roelie Post allows the reader a unique insiders view regarding the politics of international adoption. It was an eye-opening account that not many are willing to share to the outside world.In her experience with Romania’s orphan care and international adoption program, Ms. Post begins her journey as many do (innocent) and as her knowledge about the politics behind international adoption grows-- revelations on the real truth behind the industry of international adoption becomes quite clear.Never again can I look at the “black and white” pictures of the "poor orphans" that rely on us to “save” them with the same naïve eyes. This book offers amazing parallels into other international programs-- including China. Ms. Post talks about the points system, safe-haven drops, attachment studies on orphans, media attention and the pressure from outside countries and NGO’s to gain access to Romania’s children... all of which are familiar themes in many IA programs.While it was heart-warming to know that there are many people who work very hard to preserve children’s rights, it is equally scary to understand the underlying situation that most will never get to see.This is a must-read book for anyone entering into the world of international adoption.Cathy Wagner, 11 December 2008

A reader from the UK said:

Just finished reading your book.What a story.Clearly there is a huge interest in getting children.In your book someone said that if no more adoptions they'll have to start cloning; and what about the posters with 'children give us power'...So, an excellent book on evidence for what is, in part, going on.Good luck with de Combret.18 September 2008

VIVID - Romania

Not only did the Romanian government come under tremendous pressure from politicians in the US politicians and in some EU member states (namely, Italy and France) but Roelie Post was continually harassed in her job at the Commission. Her book is a blow by blow account of the main lobbyists in Brussels, with scandalous walk on parts from the likes of Silvio Berlusconi and Romano Prodi. For anyone interested in the intriguing international adoption story this book is essential reading.19 November 2007Read the full articlePosted by Roelie at 19:190 comments

AntiAdopt said...

This book unravels not only the mechanism behind adoption, but also how the interests of rich parties dominate politics. The Dutch version of the book might be easier to read than the English one. Much recommended.Applause for Ms. Post and her colleagues who stood up for what is morally right, against aggressive and powerful parties. If we could have counted on the fact that your kind is the only one, we might have voted YES [for the European Convention]. 13 August 2007http://antiadoptie.blogspot.com

Niels says...

Romania - For Export Only is a captivating book. I read it cover to cover over the week-end. It is a very well documented account in diary style of the wheelings and dealings over the access to Romanian orphans. At times it can be a tough read, because she gives many details of the Romanian case. Fortunately the book is much more than cold facts and figures. Roelie Post keeps closely focused on the child's best interest, both in her work and in the story she has to tells us.13 August 2007http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/4544#comment-1483

Marian van Teeffelen, Coördinator Roemenië Kinderpostzegels, says

When will the interest of the child be finally at the centre? The book of Roelie Post makes clear how easy this principle of the Convention on the Right of the Child is put aside. And replaced by the wishes of a few doubtful Western organisations. With this the de-institutionalisation process in Romania was frustrated and a more humane local approach of the issue hampered. Already beginning ‘90s many Romanians were ready to take children out of the orphanages, where they often lived in diar circumstances, to take them into their family. But it took years before they got this chance. And the story goes on, in other countries.
What is the EU about? About the Rights of the Child, or the pressure of a doubtful Western lobby? 15 June 2007

Press release FPPF

Her book reads like an exciting tale of mystery and espionage as she uncovers memos, files and emails that spell out a "point system" pitting American against Europeans as to who can pay more and thus get more children for adoption; phonied photos to make conditions look more dire than they are to increase private and public funding that seldom got to the children or the employees caring for them...as Roelie discovered on her field trips to the Romanian orphanages.

Marc RAEYMAECKERS, Consultant Child Protection Romenia 91-94, said...

Even if this book is not going to change the world, or Romania for that matter, at least you have been on the side of the good guys/girls. "Bad things happen because good people fail to act", you did.
Noroc
Monday, March 19, 2007 8:16:00 PM

Iza Niewiadomska said...

I read it over the weekend: forget Agatha Christie if you get real stories like this! I could not put it down till the very last page. Respect, Roelie and others who worked on this.
Thursday, March 15, 2007 5:25:00 PM

David Haworth, Irish Daily Mail said...

This is a shocking and forensic case history of how the lobbying nexus can work in Brussels, threats and all, as children's lives are cynically disposed of between the "In" files and the "Out". Few players emerge well from this story and some are out-and-out black hat villains. A salutary antidote to the EU's 50th anniversary celebrations. Friday, March 02, 2007 5:40:00 PM

Paul van Buitenen Member of the European Parliament said...

As a former European Commission official, I know that it is not obvious to write such a book. It is courageous and necessary to put this story on paper, as many misconceptions about the Romanian children's adoption issue float around and have even caused the European Parliament to adopt a misguided written declaration on this issue. Well done Roelie! Thursday, March 01, 2007 11:17:00 AM

Rupert Wolfe-Murray said...

Bravo Roelie. I am delighted that someone has finally told this story. I also know that she was the driving force behind Romani's reform of its child welfare system. Rupert Wolfe Murray, Thursday, March 01, 2007 10:30:00 AM

Brian Douglas (British Humanitarian) said...

I am delighted to see that the Author has taken the time to put this book together. It is for certain a story that needs telling, so the world can read this untold, true story of Romania's orphans and I recommend the public to purchase a copy, so that they will understand the truth of the interferences that tried to protect their interests rather than that of the children. Well done Roelie! Sunday, February 25, 2007 4:20:00 PM